.. Audience - key concepts ..

An audience is masses of people who can be persuaded to buy products through advertising.

.. Historical background ..
150 years ago things that show media such as television, radio, film or computers did not exist and to keep themselves busy they would and to keep themselves busy/entertained they did things such as reading or taking part in group activities to create a musical or a play. Nowaddays media is consumed either independtly or in small groups. The media can be seen as bringing people together and also keeping them apart, for example parents worry that video games are keeping children locked up inside their room however programmes such as soaps bring people to come together. one major fear from consuming media is that since the same media is being consumed by millions of people around the world and often consumed alone (which is called mass media according to many theorists), there is no-one to tell these consumers what is good or bad so they begin to see things in more of a negative way.

example of theorist:-
Herbert Blumerdescribed it in 1950:-
-First, its membership may come from all walks of life, and from all
distinguishable social strata; it may include people of different class position, of
different vocation, of different cultural attainment, and of different wealth. .....

-Secondly, the mass is an anonymous group, or more exactly is composed of
anonymous individuals [Blumer means anonymous in the sense that unlike the
citizens of earlier communities, the people who are members of the mass
audience for the media do not know each other].

-Third, there exists little interaction or change of experience between members of
the mass. They are usually physically separated from one another, and, being
anonymous, do not have the opportunity to mill as do members of the crowd.

-Fourth, the mass is very loosely organised and is not able to act with the unity of
a crowd.

.. Defining audiences: mass market ..
media producers and institutions like to consider audiences in groups. This is particularly true of advertisers, who have led the way in targeting groups of consumers. The producers of media texts and the advertisers are very interested in these audiences who they could contact through the new media. To investigate exactly how large their share of the mass market was, television companies and advertisers pioneered new techniques of market research which involved quantitative surveys where they attempted to count how many people they reached.
Todd Gitlin said:
“The numbers only sample sets tuned in, not necessarily shows watched, let
alone grasped, remembered, loved, learned from, deeply anticipated, or mildly
tolerated”

.. Evaluation 2 ..

attainment - 3
i could get a better grade then what im currently at. Personally i dont feel like im underachieveing, but i dont feel like im working at the best of my ability.

Effort - 1
i try very hard with homework and try alot to get involved in class work as much as possible

Punctuality - 2
my punctuality is fairly good. there have been a few occasions where i have been late but only by a few minutes.

Submission and quality of homework - 2
i submit all my homework on time. The quality of my h/w is good but definately have room for improvement

Ability to work independently - 1
I work very well on my own. Most of the time i prefer working on my own

Quality of writing - 2
i feel my quality or writing was good but in previous essays that i have sumbitted my grade has decreased slightly

Organisation of Media folder - 2
my media folder has room for slight improvement since not all my papers are where they should be

Oral contributions in class - 1
i contribute when i can in class as much as possible

Contributions to your practical production group -
i didnt have a group until a 2 days ago so i cant yet give myself a grade for this.

.. Jeepers Creepers 2 analysis ..

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kC5VzVPdYM4

This extract from the clip starts off with a low angle shot of the scarecrow. This is to show the superiority of the scarecrow by having the audiences feel like their glancing up at it and to make it come across more threatening by looking bigger than we are. This camera shot is also a close up shot of the head area; where the audience can only see a blacked out figure and nothing more, no facial features or clothing or colour is shown. This creates an effect of mystery since there is absolutely nothing the audience can pin point out about this scarecrow and makes the audience have a sense of doubt that it is really just a scarecrow. Due to the scarecrow being completely lacked out the audience are left in suspense on how the scarecrow looks like and what it’s trying to hide. The lighting in this particular moment has a bit of a sunrise colour. It’s an orangey red colour. This was done by the director probably to give the audience an idea of the time this scene is taking place and somehow makes the scarecrow seem more threatening due to the colour it’s being portrayed in from the connotations the audience are able to make from the use of the colour.

The lighting does not change in this extract. It stays in the sunrise colour of red and orange. The lighting is more used in a backlight because there are many parts where it is making the character or object appear more rounded and helps centre the focus around them for example in 4.30 of the clip, the scarecrow is the main focus because the lighting is used in a backlight effect and helps make the scarecrow stand out. This clip also has no outstanding colours besides black. The whole scene has roughly the same colour scheme of the natural lighting of the sunrise. All the colours blend in and are a shade or two lighter or darker from each other. This effect of the colour scheme was created to make the scarecrow stand out and be focused on when it appears on the screen. Also the colour black connotes evil or bad so it is to make clear that the scarecrow is the villain in the film by being the odd colour with dark connotations (4.30).

There is a mix of diegetic sound (sound that is coming from within the film in which the character can hear) and non-diegetic sound (sound that is added onto the film in which the characters can’t hear such as the soundtrack). There is a fair amount of each in this extract. The diegetic sound is by the dialogue of the actors or their surroundings, to make the scene seem more realistic. And the non-diegetic sound is used to add effect on moments of suspense and tension, often when the scarecrow is in the shot. The sounds are all parallel to the shots; they are sounds the audience would expect to hear e.g. slow romantic music in a love scene. The diegetic sounds are loud and of the characters screaming in fear or help (5.09). The non-diegetic sounds are fast, upbeat and high pitched to also add to the effect of shock and fear in the clip so it builds a gasping and anxious effect by the audience (4.55).

The cinematography of the clip also adds to the suspense and fear the director is trying to create through the shot because it is also very fast paced and has many edits. The fast movements of the camera create shock and give off the effect of an uncontrollable environment because the camera is moving so fast that the audience aren’t given the chance to stop and ‘calm down’ their emotions because they are trying to keep track of what’s happening. The fast edits also add to this effect because as soon as the audience have had a couple of seconds to focus on the shot; it switches to another so again they are in a tense and apprehensive position (5.20 – 5.30). The camera moves often in a pan (5.42), tracking (5.02) and crane shot (5.13) all at a fast pace. This is used because it allows the audience to identify with both the scarecrow when in a crane shot chasing the boy and the boy whilst trying to run away from the scarecrow, so the audience sees both perspectives of the characters. The camera frames vary from many shots such as BCU, MS, LS, POV, etc. all the edits are fast straight cuts or jump cuts and the use of a variety of shots is to give the audience a better view from every angle what’s going on and to make it seem like there’s more chaos and havoc going on in the scene to add to that fearful suspenseful effect.

In conclusion, the lighting, sound and cinematography have all been specifically used to build up an effect of a tense fearful and anxious feel from the audience to connote the genre of the film of being a horror and to of already lured in the audiences full attention and focus by using all these affects in the opening scene of the movie to make them aware that their expectations of the film being scary and thrilling confirmed straight away so their interest of the movie lasts throughout the hole film.

x.. Analysis of 4 film stills ..x

This film still is from the movie 'Batman and robin'. This is a MS of both 'good' characters in the movie. They are both in 'disguises' since they are wearing odd or unusual clothing seen from those worn on a daily basis and we can obvious tell that they are disguises since they are both wearing masks. The setting is most likely to be in the city ( of Gothom for who would now since they would be familiar with the comic book ) and we can see this since there are many tall building in the background and cars parked up on the side of the roads. The lighting seems to be fairly light to focus on the characters and since the scene seems to be shot in the day time. The actors seem to be running and we can see this from the position on their arms and body language. This camera shot is good for action or adventure films because then the audience can see the whole setting which is better considering the genre. Genre films such as these need more MS and LS rather than BCS and CS because the audience need to see completely whats going on so they can see all the action taking place rather than focusing on facial expressions.

This still image was taken from the movie 'House of wax'. The actor is a famous celebrity (paris hilton) which probably helped add to the promotion and selling of the movie. We can not see the setting since the shot is a BC shot that is focused on her facial expression which we can obviously tell that she is scared and sad due to the cringing of her eye brows and tears from her eyes along with her hand covering her mouth probably to minimize the sound of her breathing from some-one else (the evil character) to hear. The only setting we can see is the piece of wall on her left which seems to be damaged, broken and not in its best condition. This shows us that shes not in a safe environment and overall connotes the genre of the film being a horror. This type of shot is good for genred films such as horrors or thrillers because it needs to emphasise the characters facial expressions and body language more because it allows the audience to identify with them so they feel that 'scared' aspect which is the hole purpose of these genred films (to scare the audience) and it BCS and CS are more useful compared to LS and MD because the hole purpose of a horror film is to keep the audience in suspense and guessing and LS and MD show the whole surrounding of a scene so if the audience can see everything thats taking place than the 'scary' aspect of a horror film is gone.

This still image was taken from the movie 'Titanic'. It is a CS on both the main characters faces purposely to show their facial expressions. The films genre is a romantic drama and CS are good for this type of genre becuase the facial expression of the charcters need to be confused on so the audience can see or 'feel' how they are feeling and begin to indentify with them. You cant see the setting in this shot; the whole focus is on the characters expressions which show happiness due to the smiles on their face. Also the lighting connotes happiness because its an orangy high key light that focuses on thier faces which are close together so this gives off a sort of warmth and loved feeling. The male actor seems to be looking at the female character which also gives off this 'loved' feeling because hes focusing on her ratehr than anything else which connotes his love for her since he only seems to be interested in her. His smile seems to be generated from hers in this shot and the CS allows us to see this.

This still image was taken from the movie 'Girl next door'. The genre is a hybrid of thriller/drama. The setting seems to be very badly broken and eroded since the tiles have cracks all over them and are a modly colour. The costume of the character in the image automatically connotes some sort of trouble and shows captivity due to the clothe wrapped around her mouth to prevent her from screaming and the position of her arms show the audience that she is tied up. Also her clothing seems to be torn up and ragady which can connote a very long captivity or a rough one for that matter. Her position on the bed and her body language shows the audience that she has been through alot already and is tired. Her cuts and grazes on her leg also connote this. The lighting is dark and low key but there the actor seems to be in a lighter light compared to the background shes in, which was most probably done to emphasise her circumances and have the focus on her and the damage that is done to her along with her situation. The shot is a MS which is realy good for this genre and this image because straight away it shows the audience so much already and runs a number of emotions through them such as fear, worry, curiosity, etc. This shot is overall better compared to BCS or LS because a BS would show too little so the interest of the audience wouldnt be as much as it is compared to right now in a MS and a LS would give away too much so the audience would expect what would happen next, so a MS was the best camera angle and effect to be used.

x.. Cinematography analysis ..x

Casablanca (1942) + Batman returns (1992)

cinematography is the discipline of making light and camera choices when recording phototgraphic images for the cinema

The main key difference between the cinematography of a film of the 1940s and a film of the 1990s is, firstly and obviously, the fact that the films in the 1990s were in colour whereas the films in the 1940s were in blank and white

Casablanca's cinematography was created very cleverely in a way in which the camre angles and lighting helps emphasise the actors facial expressions and surroundings in a way where the director has already pre-planned specifically, how that moment of the film should come across to the audiene and how they should be exactly feeling identifying with the film.
An example of this is the main female actress in the film Ingrid bergman. The camera shots in which focused on her were mostly viewed and taken from the left side of her face since it was considered to be her 'better angle'. The lighting on her was usualy soft to make her seem more precious and feminine and more as a damsel with catch lights (catch lights are lights that are used to specifically highlight a charcters eye which gives the character a more softer and innocent look) to give her eyes a sparkle/glistening effect in which the whole purpose of this was to make her face, in BCU shots or CU shots, seem more tender for the audience to identify with her more in a sypmathetic way. An example of this is shown at 0.59 of the trailer.
Also in some parts of the film there are lines of shadows across the characters and in various places of the background and they are formed in such a way in which they resemble bars that are similar of a prison that which therefore connotes being confined or restricted or even imprisoned in the surroundings or environment that the characters are in. An example of this is the scene right in the opening of the trailer; on the floor there is a shadow of crossing bars and to add to this connotation the charcters in the scene are wearing uniform and holding guns connoting the whole idea of being imprisoned once again.
Dark lighting and expressionist lighting (this is when the lighting is giving an emotional effect) is used variously throughout the film. They are particularily seen towards the end of the film. This style and use of cinematography is classical elements in which would be expected in such a film of the 1940s.

Batman returns cinematography, first of all in colour and was used/created in such a way where the lighting an camera angles is always or mostly focused on the whole picture of the setting.

The surroundings/environment/setting of the scene is always showin in LS and is always shown in either low key lighting or very dark lighting. The only moment in the trailer in which there is some form of bright light is the explosion (0.25) and this is to give the film a constant thriller effect the whole time.It also connotes the seriousness of the film sonce there is no major aspect of bright light so the darkness shows a sense of stern-ness and focus.

The actors are also shown in a dark light the majority of the time. The 'bad' characters always seem to have a backlight effect in which they are in a MS and theres a low key light that is behind them which gives them a sort of eary glow which shows the audience that they are the 'bad' characters in the film and show a sense of mystery and lurking towards the audience. Examples of this are scene in the trailer at 0.31 to 0.38 which is where we first see one of the 'evil' characters of the film and another example is 0.45 and 1.05 of when we see the second 'evil' character cat woman.

Batman (the hero of the film) also always seems to be seen in a low key lighting. There is no significant part of the trailer in which he is shown in high key lighting or even a bright light and this is to again show the seriousness of the film throught the whole of the trailer. There is only one moment throughout the whole trailer in which we even see batmans real identity and at this point he is also featured in a low key blue light that gives an ora or glow around him with the batman symbol behind him and the camera is looking up at him from a low angle shot which connotes the sense of a Hero effect since we are looking up at him so he seems to be more superior for that specific moment only (1.20)

.. Comparison for mis-en-scene for 3 different genres ..

.. Costumes ..

there is no costume in the 'butterfly effect' which is a drama genre film or the 'boogeyman' which is a horror type of film because it adds to the effect of both the genres in the film by showing very little and only focusing on the main aspects to show the audience the obvious genre of the film for example the butterfly effect shows its a drama film by discarding the costumes and emphasising the facial expressions of the characters and the boogeyman has shown the genre by discarding the costumes and emphasising the effect of the darkness and the creepy dis-figured hand. The image of 'chuck and larry' is a comedy film and the costumes show this because of the play of black and white suits which is usually worn by a groom (black) and his bride (white) but in the image above it shows both males in suits where one has worn the male tradion colour in a wedding of black and the other has worn white. This shows it is a comedy film because of the play on the tradition of marriage colours and clothing.

.. Lighting ..

the lighting in the butterfly effect and the boogeyman is very similar because they both have low key lighting and the parts in the image that are highlighted by the use of the lighting are things to emphasise the genre for example the butterly effect image highlights the facial expressions of the actors only and the boogeyman image highlights the dis-figured hand and the rest of both the images surroundings are darkened off, Whereas the image of chuck and larry is in high-key lighting. The whole background is white which is the total opposite of the other two images.

.. Actors ..

the actors in the the butterfly effect are two famous actors and so are the actors in chuck and larry. But there are no actors featured in the image of the boogeyman and no famous names around the image to show the audience there are any famous actors. the actors in the butterfly effect are a man and woman which show the audience that the film is obvioulsy going to be based around them since they seem to be the central characters and thier facial expressions are so serious because neither of them are smiling which connote the fact that it is a drama film. the film chuck and larry both feature actors that are best known for the comedic acts which instantly show the audience that the film is going to be a comedy and also the fact that a male is holding another male the way a groom would a bide just after marriage also shows the audience the film is going to be a comedy film. Futhermore the facial expressions on the actors show the audience that the fillm is going to be a comedy because adam sandler has a sarcastic expression on his face and kevin james shows a cheeky, happy and cheerful facial expression on his face.

.. Make - UP ..

in all three movies the make up used seems to be very minimum. The butterfly effect seems to have a natural look on both actors since it is a close up shot on both thier faces and both seem to be wearing no make up or given a natural look. We can not see much in the image of the boogeyman and what we can see is just a dis-figured hand so the audience can tell that there is alot of fake make-up used to create a horrific looking person (thus the name boogeyMAN) and also in chuck and larry, since both are male actors, they arent expected to be wearing any make-up so in which they arent wearing any.

.. Props ..

there are no props used in the butterfly effect however in the boogeyman and chuck and larry there are. The props used in the boogeyman is just a door of a closet or room which connotes the idea of a boogeyman ( which is a scary man who either lives in ur closet or under your bed, hes a fictional charcter made to scare children in the dark ) and the image of chuck and larry use props such as confettii and the top of a wedding cake that they seem to be standing on linking in with the effect of the typography showing the audience that it is a comedy film and hinting to us that the plot is going to be about two males getting married.

.. Setting ..

there is no setting in the butterfly effect. The boogeyman seems to be set in most probably a house since all taht is shown is a door and the chuck and larry image doesnt seem to have a particular setting since the background is all white but they seem to be standing on top of a wedding cake which adds to the connotation of a comedy since two males seem to be getting married.

.. Still Image Analysis of Mis-en-Scene ..

.. Costume ..

the costume in the still image shows the audience that the film is almost fairy tale / fantasy like and suggests the genre of the movie. The type of clothing seems olden aged and in colours such as green, white or brown which shows the 'olden' age and also makes the image seem historical even. Also some of the characters shown are wearing cloaks which is a typicall aspect to expect in fantasy adventure films and films that are NOT set in the present day (cloaks were used in the olden times because coats were not invented).

.. Lighting ..

the lighting in the still image is kind of low. There seems to be a back light behind the charcters shown in the image which highlights them and makes them stand out that much more in the image along with being the centre image. The effect of the lighting shows us that the characters being highlighted are the 'good' characters to expect in the film because the lighting seems to make them have a sort of glow or halo around them which connotes good against evil.

.. Actors ..

the actors shown in the image are shown as the main charcters to expect in the film because they have been positioned in the centre of the image. Also the importance of the characters seem to be justified by the size of their picture for example we can obviously tell that the central character in the poster is the main actor in the film because his middle shot picture is in the centre of the image and is the largest picture compared to all the other pictures in the image. There are some famous main characters that have been featured in this film such as orlando bloom, Ian McKellen and Viggo Mortensen but most of the central characters are new such as Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. This gives the film a mixture of new and present actors which will suggest to the audience that it is a big budget film due to the famous actors already being featured in the film so their fans will be attracted to watch this film and also the new actors in the film are going to intregue new audiences.

.. Make-Up ..

there is very little make-up worn in the image. All the charcters seem to have a natural look, even the women. This is because due to the time and date the producer was trying to set the film in, make-up wasnt even invented or worn so therefore the actors in the image have not worn any. This helps connect to the genre of the film because its supposed to be set in the olden ages and the lack of use of make-up helps build to this.

.. Props ..

the props used in the image add to the genre so it is become more clearer to the audience what type of film this image connotes and what to expect. The props are swords, daggers, bows and arrows and axes. The props are mainly weapons and mainly olden weapons that arent used in the present day. They lack updated technology such as guns or bullets etc. Also horses are shown in the image which again proves the fact that the image is based on a film that is going to be based on an older age due to the use of horses instead of cars. This makes it obvious to the audience that it is a image of a film based in the olden times which adds to the effect of the genre that is trying to be portrayed.

.. Setting ..

the image doesnt realy seem to be set in a setting or area. You can faintly see some tall trees in the background that could connote a forest of some-sort but then again it could just be the use of the lighting that can be misinterpretted.

.. Target audience ..

the target audience this image seems to be aiming at is quite a big range. It could be aimed at family audiences due to the fanatasy - adventure genre that seems to be portrayed. It could be aimed also at a young audience due to the genre portrayed, mainly for the young male audience due to the use of the props which suggest violence which would attract more of the male audience. It could also be suggested for an older age range because of the use of older characters and famous characters in the image and because of the time the image seems to be set in would be more apppealing to a older audience perhaps compared to a younger audience, but once again, most probably more for the male audience due to the use of the props which connote the expected violence to be seen in the film.

.. Genre ..

the genre of the film seems to be a hybrid of a fantasy adventure and action type of film. This is because of the use of the props and the way the characters have been portrayed in the film. The characters seem to be almost fantasy like and un-real due to the use of the lighting which gives them that odd fantasy type of glow and also the use of the props show that adventure / action to be expected in the film.